


and you can leave (if you really want to)

by inberin



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Lowercase, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 21:03:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4760939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inberin/pseuds/inberin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a story of two best friends told in two years with a handy list</p>
            </blockquote>





	and you can leave (if you really want to)

**Author's Note:**

> title from the song [gravity by EDEN](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu146oLMyOc)  
> it could potentially improve your reading experience, if not ur musical repertoire
> 
> edit, 31st dec 2015: redid the tags on this, it feels more genfic than anything after a reread so i retagged the relationships!

year one

1\. aone takanobu is, obviously, a hulking brute of a man. but he's quiet. futakuchi kenji is a great deal less quiet, and has, already, on the first day of club, managed to get himself into trouble with the third years and the coach to boot, and is now probably permanently on cleanup duty. whatever. it's not like they can spare his skills, honestly. he gives this arrangement a week, two weeks, tops. aone takanobu is relevant in this story because he's immediately snatched up into blocking practice the moment the coach sees him, and kenji can already smell 'regular' all over him. he doesn't like it.

2\. it's been three weeks. kenji is sick of mops and picking up balls, for fuck's sake, they have managers, no one needs to handle this shit, and he just feels stupider and stupider as the days go past. a stray volleyball rolls past his hand. he curses. a large, wide hand picks up the volleyball, and when kenji looks up, aone takanobu hands the ball to him with both his hands. kenji snatches the ball away from him. he says thank you. aone takanobu nods. he leaves.

3\. when the coach is finally tired of tormenting the bloody hell out of him and lets him on the court, he delivers a beautiful smash right past his senpai, and when it smacks hard into the polished floor he thinks this is probably what hope feels like.

4\. coach oiwake is convinced he's going to shoot up like, thirty centimetres in the next two years or something, and kenji finds himself on blocking practice as well, alongside aone takanobu. they work well together. coach oiwake is pleased.

5\. aone takanobu talks to him.

6\. aone wants to know if futakuchi wants to go for dinner after practice. futakuchi does.

7\. their blocks have begun to sync. coach oiwake drops hints that if they keep it up, they might just make it as proper regulars by next year. kenji begins practicing spiking more.

8\. when fall comes around, he finds out that aone doesn't seem to need gloves, ever, while he's stuck wearing his dumb cotton mitts if he doesn't want cracked fingertips. aone makes a face that kenji's come to realise means he's amused, so kenji shoves him into a tree, which dutifully dumps a sprinkling of red and gold leaves onto him. some of them stick in his hair, but kenji's too short to pick them out.

9\. when winter comes around, he finds out that putting aone in an overly long and fluffy green scarf (christmas present) causes him to make the most bemused face kenji has ever seen. kenji laughs until his face goes red.

10\. when spring has come and almost gone, the third years are gone, and the coach gives them their new numbers. aone looks at him, and kenji grins like a maniac.

 

year two

1\. aone takanobu is still the quietest boy kenji has ever known. he finds himself to have become a sort of informal translator between aone and the small, terrified first years, as well as a minder, of a sorts. in return, aone keeps him out trouble, with his silent disapproving glares and the occasional last resort of physical removal from the scene of his crime. the coach and the new third years are used to their shit, and for that kenji is (grudgingly) grateful. they're regulars now, as they're constantly reminded. it's about time they grew up.

2\. training is hard. blocking is one thing, but more often than not kenji finds himself with shaking legs and more than just a bit of the usual fatigue from jumping over and over and over. captain-san offers him a couple of kind words and a hand up. sasaya snorts at him and points out the tiniest remaining faults in his form. kamasaki pokes his nose where it doesn't goddamn belong and yells at him a bit. aone doesn't say anything, just watches as he gets back on his feet. when kenji has caught his breath, he has it knocked right out of him again with aone's encouraging smack to his back, and he laughs so hard kamasaki yells at him again.

3\. volleyball has never been easy, but kenji finds it a lot easier to move with senpai he knows are watching his back, teammates who he knows will catch him if he falls.

4\. he doesn't grow thirty centimetres, obviously, but he's become an invaluable member of the iron wall by may. kamasaki is most definitely not tearing up. aone claps like he's some proud fucking parent, so kenji socks him in the gut. (he flinches, but doesn't budge.)

5\. they lose the interhigh preliminaries to a team with the tiniest bloody middle blocker he's ever seen, and aone has the fucking nerve to go over and acknowledge him, like he's some sort of equal. the third years are crying. kenji punches aone, over and over and over again. the third years are fucking crying. aone never budges, never shifts, never bends. aone takanobu is the only thing that is constant. he grabs aone's jacket and cries for the third years, for the ones they called 'duds' but were the strongest he knew.

6\. aone takanobu makes really, really good soup, and is a lot softer than he looks.

7\. they're making him captain. he takes his new number like a prison sentence, like a crown he's never wanted, for a kingdom he shouldn't be inheriting. but takanobu is beside him, holding the number 1 like he’s afraid it’ll break it, and kenji figures he can stick it out a little longer.

8\. when fall comes around, he finds out takanobu's hands aren't really that much bigger than his, but are always warm.

9\. when winter comes around, he finds out that if he touches takanobu's cheek with his cold hands, it starts to warm, too.

10\. when spring has come and almost gone, when the third years have left for good, takanobu lets go of his hand, looks him in the eye, and says, "call me aone."

 

 

0\. aone takanobu is the loudest. aone takanobu speaks with everything else that isn't mere sounds to a ear, just words on a paper, he speaks and kenji listens, he listens even if he'd rather be deaf. 

 

 

year three

1\. aone takanobu looks at him in the middle of practice, in front of everyone else around, and says, "best friends." kenji knows that, to anyone else, this is the greatest honour. this would have been the greatest honour.  
"yeah," kenji replies. "best friends."

**Author's Note:**

> please do leave a comment!! o/


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